Why You Might Want A Giant Phone

They’ve been called ‘phablets‘(phone/tablet) and many other unflattering things. I have laughed at them with my colleagues and friends about holding up a phone to your ear requiring two hands. I first saw people using them while in Asia several years ago when the Galaxy Note appeared. It was a big hit in Asia and many people had them. It was doubly amusing because these Asians have smaller hands than the average American.

Additionally she pecked at it with a stylus. “How 20 years ago”, was my thought. I have gradually come around to think more favorably about these giant phones. Phones are fashion driven, remember Zoolander and his tiny phone in 2001?

I have read with glasses for over 10 years, age related, and function has risen over form. I realize now there is a place for many kinds of phones. The difference in our skills and needs requires a range of phone types. They shouldn’t all be the same size and weight.

I use a tablet for light easy convenience. I crank the font size to Large so I can more easily read it. 20 years ago on a computer I saw they started to put in variable font sizes in the Netscape browser and I thought why bother? Smaller font meant seeing more on a screen, it was dumb to make the font larger.

I now see the light (or the font I should say.) So before you pass off something that deviates greatly from the current fashion (yeah, that’s you iPhone) consider your needs.

Eyesight

Hand and finger size and flexibility

Your dexterity

Functions you need to use

The precision required in the apps you use

There are more but think carefully about it and balance these along with cost/benefit in you buying decisions.